West Africa must harmonise its energy market, adopt common product specifications and data standards, and develop shared infrastructure to build a $3 trillion cumulative energy economy by 2035, Chairman of RHS Advisory Ltd, Mallam Suleiman Yahyah, has said.
 
Yahyah spoke yesterday at the West Africa Refined Fuel Market (WAFRFM) Conference 2026 in Abuja, where he presented a paper titled “Driving Infrastructure Growth Through Strategic Regional Partnership.”
 
He said the region’s energy market could only achieve the target if countries moved beyond operating isolated national markets to create an integrated regional system that allows licensed operators to trade across borders.
   
“That means we harmonise activities so that one operator of a licensee in Ghana can operate in Nigeria. And that will mean that we have common product specifications, shared data standards, a modern energy contract, infrastructure to drive it, and the regional dispute resolution mechanism. If we do that, it is possible that by 2035, we can have a market that is $3 trillion cumulative.”

Yahyah said the continent faces a significant energy imbalance, noting that Africa accounts for about 20 per cent of the global population and produces 7.5 per cent of global hydrocarbons, yet more than 600 million people remain in energy poverty while over one billion lack access to clean energy.
 
He said the region’s energy market must be integrated and connected to global platforms, while fiscal systems must also be aligned to facilitate regional transactions.
 
According to him, greater market convergence would allow transactions to follow opportunities across borders rather than remain constrained within individual national markets.
 
He also called on energy traders to create liquidity in the market, while urging central banks to work with the African Finance Corporation, African Development Bank, Central Bank Fund and potentially the African Energy Bank to establish a settlement facility.
 
“We estimate that this settlement facility will be in the region of $3 billion, but anchored in naira. And this system will follow the past settlement system, because already, without reinventing that wheel, it already exists.”
 
He warned that without adequate liquidity, the region would struggle to establish an efficient African or West African energy market.
 
Yahyah identified talent as another critical requirement, saying Africans with the requisite skills must be developed to regulate the market, trade, provide market analysis, establish legal frameworks and build institutions capable of entering joint ventures with major industry players.

He also advocated strategic partnerships with global market and data providers, including S&P, Argus and Bloomberg, particularly those that control established methodologies and platforms.